Ag Food and Resource Economics Summer Experiences

Week 9 Sam’s Club

This week has been solely focused on my intern project I have to complete for Sam’s Club. My project is with three other interns at different clubs in the United States, and it is just a portion of an overall project with all of the interns country-wide. Our portion is focused on technology, and how we can help Sam’s to make improvements in what tech they already use and have in place. We are also looking to the future, and trying to figure out and plan for what new technology they could potentially implement to better member’s lives, and to stand out amongst their competitors (namely, Costco and Amazon).

The project has been interesting because Sam’s is very open to getting involved in new technology, but they aren’t the best at researching and planning it out before they implement it for associate and member usage. When that happens, the tech winds up being flawed or simply over-complicating things, and that it is the opposite intention Sam’s has when developing new technologies. How they can improve upon what they currently offer has been my main focus on our technology section of the project.

Other than that, I have spent more time this week in the back, helping with stocking and claims. I’m not sure yet, but I may spend a night or two with the Overnights team to see how they operate things and prep for the next morning in the club. They are mainly involved with restocking items and dropping pallets from the steel, but I certainly have seen how not having a fully-staffed team impacts the day-to-day operation of the club, so I am interested in spending some time to fully see what they do. Next week is my last week with Sam’s, so I want to get in as much time as possible with the departments I haven’t seen as much of.